The Chef’s House

The Chef’s House is a training facility for George Brown College Cooking School and Service. I was just ok with the over all experience. Not at all what I remember when it was on Adelaide Street. I expected it to be fun an experience and it wasn’t. The food was definitely high quality food but the portions are so small you will likely leave hungry. The service was not good (understandable/​training) and the atmosphere was very cold and unwelcoming. I had the rainbow trout appetizer, the chicken breast roast for main course and the tiramisu desert. All tasted amazing but were all really just sample sizes or maybe this is what a serving size is suppose to be. My bill came to $ 40, no wine and I left hungry and unsatisfied and that’s all that matters.

Went here with my family during winterlicious. Great price for a 3 course dinner meal.
I like their contemporary atmosphere, very attentive (though a little bit nervous) staff and delicious food.
Even on regular priced menu this place is great for the value and service.
I had onion soup for appetizer. It was amazing. Filled by gnocchi that were covered in finger licking sauce and an apple strudel dessert with sorbet. The Italian theme was definitely a great choice:)

Serving sizes are super small considering it still is a teaching college. So you wont get very full most likely. Servers were nice and rating is just related to food qty vs price.

Just had my first experience for lunch. Although the food and wine were very good and very reasonably priced, the service really wasn’t there, it actually became comical after a while. First of all, no mention of my food allergy was ever made, even though the restaurant had called me upon making my reservation on open table to get information. The sever we had was extremely timid and really not knowledgeable about the menu, she wasn’t able to answer basic questions about the food. Water was never refilled the entire time and we had to flag her down to get some more. I tried calling a guy that was standing around, but was not able to get his attention even after many excuse me and waiving my arms at him. Every other patron in the area heard me and noticed, except him. He just walked away to the back. Did I mention he was standing only about 8 feet away when all this happened? Taking plates away from the table also seemed quite challenging for the server. Could only take one butter plate away at a time! Perhaps a staff member (manager) should be standing around specifically to observe and correct the students in private. In a real world restaurant situation these poor kids would not survive an entire shift or even an hour. Focus should definitely be given on training towards proper customer service.

As this is a teaching restaurant for George Brown, you have to keep in mind that some of these students have had no experience in the hospitality industry. The food was amazing (always is, every time I go), but if would have been really great if our server could have actually said more than 2 words to us.
Each time we would state something for our order, we would inevitably have to say it two or three times while pointing at the item on the menu. I don’t think she spoke English at all. It was other servers that described our food or checked in on us. She mixed up my drink order and dropped off the bill without any pleasantries or intructions on where to pay.
The food, of course = perfection and this is where the stars come from. The heirloom and feta app was well executed with little balsamic pearls. I LOVE me some molecular gastronomy. My sister had the mushroom soup and loved it. My chicken/​ravioli main was flavourful but the star was the sous-​vide pork my sister got. It was smoky, sweet, salty, and silky. She could have eaten 5 more.
Our desserts were the basic deconstructed thang everyone is going for lately.
Sis had blueberry compote with a shortcake and some blueberry ice.
I had lemon curd with strawberries. This was topped with a lovely pistachio meringue.
All in all, always a pleasure to eat the food here. The service is bizarre, but if you go with low expectations, you’ll have a nice meal!
Note: Any tips given go towards their student award fund.

Great place to eat and try new foods!
This is probably the reasons why George Brown and their culinary school are so successful.
This place is run by students and oversee by a Head Chef. The students are amazing and their ability to think quick on their feet.
We had the most lovely time during Winterlicious and looking forward to going back for Summerlicious.

First time here with some classmates celebrating the completion of our program.
Most of our group arrived a half hour early of our reservation but the staff and students were still welcoming regardless. For this week there was an additional menu designed and created by one of the current Italian post-​grad students, all of whom having recently returned from their international placements in Italy. So it was nice to be able to choose from the special weekly menu in addition to their regular lunch menu for the current season/​semester.
I had the house cured trout gravlax with honey mustard sauce and shoestring potatoes for my starter which I found to have a nice fresh taste, the acidity of the dressing balanced the savoury salmon very well.
For my entrée I had prosciutto wrapped filet of pork with hollandaise sauce, fingerling potatoes and asparagus. The pork was perfectly cooked and I thoroughly enjoyed the delicate balance of the creamy hollandaise combined with the acidity of the balsamic vinaigrette which complemented the pork wonderfully.
For dessert I had the hot-​house rhubarb tart with sour cream gelato and raspberry coulis. While initially unsure of the concept of sour cream gelato I went with this choice because the sound of the rhubarb tart and raspberry coulis had me sold and neither of those two aspects disappointed me. However, I absolutely loved the sour cream gelato and found it simply divine, possibly even the best part of the entire dessert especially when eaten together with the raspberry coulis.
Lastly the servers (and their uniforms!) were great too.

Good concept restaurant where the culinary and hospitality students of George Brown College cooks and serves you. Great opportunity for the students to hone their skills and gain valuable real life experiences.
The dining experience can either be a hit or miss depending on the students on shift. The pricing for the prix-​fixe dinner courses were amazing. Three courses for $ 41 or four courses for $ 47 (additional appetizer or dessert). Decent wine selection at various reasonable prices.
My recent visit was a somewhat not memorable as what I experienced in the past. The hostess was soft spoken upon me entering the restaurant as I told her I had reservation. Luckily the restaurant is small, so I noticed my friends immediately and seated myself.
Although friendly service, the server at our table was also soft spoken and we had to ask him to repeat himself numerous times. Perhaps he was nervous or having a bad day, but he didn’t seem to want to be there.
We ordered a bottle of white wine which was not chilled enough, so it had to sit on ice for a while before we poured our own wine. Not once did the server refilled our wine glasses and even took our glasses away when we still had wine left in the bottle — an absolute no-​no in the restaurant dining experience. One should always check to see if there’s any wine left in the bottle before taking away the glasses or offering if we needed more wine.
The amuse bouche that was served wasn’t described to us, but we managed to flag someone down so they can explain what it was. The appetizers and mains were delicious and flavourful. Salmon appetizers was very fresh tasting and calamari was cooked lightly, but could use a bit more colour.
The lamb was cooked to a good medium which made the meat quite tender and very tasty. The sea bream was cooked beautifully and was fresh and flaky. Plus everything was presented nicely, almost too nice to eat.
The only concern was the desserts which didn’t seem fresh. I had the black plum tart which seemed like it just came straight out of the refrigerator, would have been nice if it was warmed up a little. My friend had the carrot cake which was a bit on dry side. Another friend had the cheesecake which was nice and fluffy, but a little on the smaller size compared to the other desserts.
Also, the server didn’t offer us any coffee or tea until after we completely finished the desserts; luckily for us no one at our table wanted any coffee/​tea to go with desserts or else they would have asked for it when the desserts were served.
Overall, it wasn’t a terrible experience, but the service could use some improvement. The Chef House is definitely a good restaurant to support the future chefs and hospitality service in the city.

Came here for Winterlicious. Had a 3 course meal with a drink. The pace was very slow, I think the entire meal took 3 hrs. I understand that the restaurant is staffed by students, but that is too long. One of the servers made a mistake of refilling my cocktail with water… The food was ok.

I don’t understand why this place doesn’t have a higher rating. This is wonderful restaurant in the heart of Old Toronto with good food, you can’t even tell it’s a learning place for culinary and hospitality students!
We had a four course meal with entrees of roasted chicken leg and pork loin. Our appetizers were just… blah. I had caramelized onions in a tart and a cold cauliflower salad. Meh.
However… My chicken was cooked perfectly, with a crispy skin and tender, juicy fully cooked middle. The chicken was so good, it was like it started melting as I started chewing. It sat on top of a bread pudding slice, that was a sweet compliment.
The pork loin was cooked the same, except it was wrapped in puff pastry (I think) and was soft and tender, but still fully cooked. The students who cooked our meal really deserve a round of applause.
Our waiter was polite and prompt. He was very professional and always checked up on us — filling our waters (without asking!), asked how we liked our food, and even gave us a heads up on when our next dish would be coming up. Too good.
The menu is probably going to change soon, so I would recommend getting the roasted chicken entrée and for dessert, STICKY TOFFEE CAKE! This cake is life! So moist, so not too sweet, with a little kick of spice and ginger. UGH! SO GOOD.

I know these kids are just learning but this was a joke. Actually left laughing about how bad it was.
Summery:
Waiter spoke zero English and could comprehend nothing that didn’t involve pointing to the menu
Said waiter spent most of the time hitting on another waitress (which seems reasonable since they’re in college I guess) and sitting around giggling like schoolgirls for most of our dinner
Food was bland, poorly cooked and poorly presented
Service (if you haven’t guessed) was awful to non-​existent
Asked for a four course meal, was charged for a four course meal, but only received three. Language barrier came in huge here. Decided to just pay for the missing course in the interest of more expeditiously leaving and forgetting I had ever been.

Checked this place out for Winterlicious and I really liked it. I love how the students get a hands on experience because that’s how you learn, not from textbooks but from experiences.
Sure the service was not stellar but you have to come in knowing that they are going to make mistakes so be understanding and patient.
I would definitely come back and show my support, here’s to the future Chefs and servers… best of luck!
Cheers

This place used to be on Adelaide where the Culinary School was. My brother has recommended I go, so I reserved a table for 2 for a lunch date the day before the bustle of Winterlicious was set to start. We were the first to arrive. I understand the establishment is coordinated by students and their instructors. The host I guess was not ready for us to arrive, we probably got her by surprise because she just stared at us blanky, before taking us to our table.
We ordered the 3 course lunch for $ 25 Prix Fixe.
APPS: Lentil Soup and Salad greens
–The soup was spiced right with a kick and lentils had been cooked enough so they still had some depth.
MAIN: Sausage with Horse radish mash and Tilapia on a bed of Greens
— The sausage seemed too sweet on the bed of carmalized onions
— The tilapia was fresh, and seared just right, amazingly moist and flakey.
DESSERT: Cardamom Crème Brulee
— When you first take a taste, the flavour is quite warm and spicy from a traditional crème brûlée!
It’s a place where learning occurs. So you see the coaching done by the instructors and students. The service was great, and so was the food. Gourmet quality and presentation for an outstanding price. I would recommend!

As others have mentioned, the staff are truly polite and eager, but very green. A little overly eager at times. But it is great to see they are learning excellent service methods: not taking away one diner’s plate before others are finished (a lost art!), refiling glasses etc.
The food was… OK. Frankly it really seemed there was more attention on plating and making everything LOOK good over the flavours. We were struck by how often we tried a new piece and thought «nothing, no flavour at all».
Venison carpacio: pasty and bland.
Tomato appetizer: also bland, except for bits of feta and the tasty tomato water.
But there were also several lovely pieces. The lamb was wonderfully cooked, though the brown sauce was too salty; the peach dessert had lovely surprise flavours and crunch. But the rest was a little disappointing.
Overall we enjoyed the experience, if in a teacherly way, but the food tended to look better than it tasted.

I went here for the first time last week for dinner with friends.
The restaurant is run by the Chef students of George Brown College.
The menu is pre fixe consisting of a starter, main and dessert.
I am basing this review on my menu choices which were as follows:
STARTER:
Seared Scallop on a bed of diced tomato with a side consisting of pressed melon with beet sorbet.
— The combination of hot and cold was brilliant. Flavourful and fresh. Five star presentation
MAIN:
Grilled fish on a bed of cous cous with vegetables
— Fresh fish grilled perfectly, complimented nicely with the sides.
DESSERT:
Rhubarb mousse cake
— I was expecting a more distinct rhubarb taste but it was more like a strawberry shortcake. The cake was moist and perfectly sliced. I enjoyed it irregardless.
The service from the moment we arrived to when we left was fantastic. The server was professional, friendly and extremely knowledgable of the food they were serving and also the local wine selections.
A evening enjoyed by everyone. Can’t wait to go back!

I ate lunch here today because I was in the area.
Yes, the servers seemed «green» as someone else mentioned, but my server was quite attentive to keeping the water refilled and responded to menu questions. She didn’t know what everything was off the top of her head as I would expect in a normal establishment, but she had notes or quickly got answers to our questions. Since I really care about the response and not the delivery I was content.
I had the soup of the day. It was nice but not memorable. It was topped with a slightly sweet beef jerky type garnish. My coworker and I were commenting on how good it was and were told it was veal tongue. How about that? So good that my coworker and I raved about tongue!
The beef stew was nice and I finished with the olive oil dark chocolate mousse. It was my favorite consistency for a mousse and wasn’t too dark.
It was a good experience and I believe the culinary school in Charlotte has a similar restaurant so I need to check that out.
One draw back was that to me it seemed very busy. People were constantly walking back and forth, back and forth. I eat out almost every meal and this place seemed much more active and it was odd.

Went here with a groupon and was treated with first class service and hospitality.
The service was memorable. but not for great or bad reasons. The service staff wanted to be sooooo helpful, soooo polite and sooooo good to you but they were just a very confused bunch. IT really showed that this was a training kitchen (with all staff being trained at george brown).
Like, don’t get me wrong– service was EXCELLENT– but it was more well-​intentioned than «flawless». Every server just seemed so… green…and like. green as in. more green than just the average person who decides they want to do a serving job.
Can you tell I hate to make this critique? But it is so true, I can’t help it.
I love the people here and wish them the best of luck for the future.
The food was good– not amazing, but very good. The amount was very substantial– I could have shared a four course with someone and it would have been enough.
Not all dishes were as good as others… some where confusing and missing a finesse that you would get at a fine dining place. But understandable given that this is a training kitchen.
What I love most about this place is the outside. you can watch the chef’s cook up a meal, bake the delicious breakds and desserts that will be served. and just an overall fun window to watch as you are walking by king street.
I have to say I would not choose to come back unless somebody I knew was training there.
It was good, and a definite must-​try if you live in Toronto. But I would not go back just for the food.

I know this restaurant is about value, but i honestly don’t see it.
I had the three course for $ 41 and don’t think it was necessarily worth it. There are tonnes of good places around the city that will do a prefix at the same price, and the food will be better. I think overall, i can see that the place has good quality ingredients, but considering it’s nothing more than a test run, i don’t see the comparative value in $ 41. And don’t get me wrong, i don’t mind paying $ 100 on a good meal, but only if it’s worth it.
Maybe i came on an off night, but i found my grapefruit and heirloom salad to be a little too bland and the steak horribly overcooked. The cheese plate we had was great, except the server was unable to tell us what cheeses were on the plate. The service was a little awkward and i found hair in the bread.
I will likely try this place again — i’ve heard so much from friends, but for now, i’m not really convinced it’s worth it.

Good food packaged with awesome service!
I am very proud of the George Brown Students! I booked a table for 16 and the servers took care of us very well. Despite of the small mishap of over cooking a couple of beef skirts, they took it back eagerly replacing the entire dish.
Duck Confit Rillette — AWESOME! It was my favourite dish of the night (not considering dessert). Duck + duck liver + duck fat = oh my goodness! They also serve it in a very cute baby pot.
Beef Skirt — The cut of the meat is tough to begin with, so I think they could tenderize the meat first, but the flavour is phenomenal. I want that recipe!
Chocolate Soufflé — *drool* The texture it’s something between a spongecake and mousse. It’s like a bouncy castle! It’s delish!
The best thing about this place is that the menu never gets old. They are always changing things up.

A for effort, 3 star for overall food quality and experience. I was really excited to come to a restaurant run by a culinary school as my other experiences with similar institutions in other cities have all been stellar. I love the idea of school program run places where students can get a taste of their profession and obtain real life experiences.
The value for lunch was incredible — $ 25 for a four course meal. I got 2 appetizers (cured meats plate — soso selection, meh presentation; beet salad — yummy!), a main (osso bucco — way too large of a portion for me, unappealing presentation, pretty good taste-​wise) and a dessert (rice pudding tart — yummy, but it looked like it’s been sitting around for too long). I also tried a sticky toffee cake where the butter rum sauce was absolutely amazing. The featured chef was from the Italian cooking program, and it was great that I was able to mix and match the regular menu with the featured dishes from the chef.
The service was distinctly student, but I didn’t mind too much. What I mean is that a few details of fine dining were missed. For example, the drinks didn’t come until after the appetizers arrived, a server took away my fellow diner’s plate while she was still chewing on her last bite without asking her if she wanted it gone, lots of shaky arrangements of the table setting when presenting the food, another server didn’t know what the ‘whitefish’ was when asked (he said it was salmon, but we later found out it was actually trout), and the list goes on. However, the general politeness, eagerness to help, and attentiveness was very much noted and appreciated.
I’d definitely recommend this place for an interesting time and for the great overall value.